Nicolai returned today from a week in Minnesota with his cousins. He had a terrific time and seemed to have grown another inch since I last saw him. We stopped for lunch at a Mexican place which has become our secret little getaway and he filled me in on his week at wrestling camp and the one spent with my brother’s family. Maya spent the day and night with her friend Lydia affording Nico and I an opportunitiy to do a little driving practice in the early evening.
When we arrived at home Maya’s first priority was to greet and play with Nala who was very happy to see her. After that joyful reunion, Maya’s next priority was to check on the garden. She returned triumphantly with the season’s first carrot which we promptly cleaned and ate. Through Jeanine’s teaching and nurturing she has passed the family’s long tradition of gardening to the next generation. Maya and I spent the afternoon doing laundry and packing for our upcoming southwest adventure. We then had a father/daughter date night which included dinner out and the latest Harry Potter movie.
I retrieved Maya from Wildwood camp this morning and was delighted to see her again. She is pictured here with new friend Amanda who, as it turns out, is a member of our church in Concord and someone I am sure we will see again. On the ride home I learned of Maya’s many exploits ranging from the invention of bumper kayaking to paper making. She has asked if she could attend for 2 weeks next year, a pretty good indicator that she had a great time. As I described my week to her she learned of my close encounter and photograph of the dragonfly from my kayak. After she heard my description of the little creature she told me that it was a damselfly rather than a dragonfly. Wikipedia confirmed her assertion and I shall have to go back and edit that blog post. Wildwood could easily be named critter camp as the kids spend a great deal of time studying nature. Maya, it appears, was paying close attention.
Here is what the baby flowers look like. Speaking of babies, I get to retrieve one of mine tomorrow, and I can’t wait to get my hands on little Miss Maya.
I got home a little early this evening, which is to say the sun was still up, and went out for an ice cream after my 6th straight microwave dinner in a row. On the way home I stopped to shoot some flowers along the road. Their is an entire little field full of these and the sea of color is just beatiful.
This morning I awoke to discover that our field was being mowed for hay. I find watching this work to be very relaxing for some reason and thought the geometry of the harvest lines would make an interesting photograph. After work I did another kayak tour of the Charles River. This time I put in across from the Harvard Stadium and travelled up river to the Perkins School for the Blind. It was a five mile round trip and I finished by 8pm in just under two hours. Again I fought a very brisk headwind only to have it dissipate when I made my turn. In a report from Romania, I learned that Jeanine narrowly missed being hit by an out of control motorcycle, jumping out of the way at the last second. Not so fortunate was our friend and fellow chaperon Nancy Reilly, who was struck and suffered a broken hip and clavicle. She remains hospitalized and her husband is on his way to be with her while her son and members of the traveling group and their hosts have been by her side constantly. Information is still very sketchy but I have been assured that Jeanine was uninjured.
I brought my kayak with me into work today. I had to reorient it on the roof rack in order to barely make the height clearance of the parking garage I use. After work I put in to the Charles River just above the Boston University boat house and did a five mile paddle to the clam shell and back. The return leg was against both an unusually stiff wind and the current so it took quite some time. I started at 6pm and did not finish until 8pm. If the weather hold I may make another excursion tomorrow evening and head up river this time. I received an e-mail from Romania indicating the adventures there were going well and that the teens were getting along very well with their European peers.
Today’s entry, both photo and text, are from my sister-in-law Marie.
Since arriving at 5 on Saturday your son has been to the Mall of America, CROQUET, fireworks in Maple Grove, CROQUET, a volleyball-beach surprise birthday party for the boys at a local park with 20 teenagers – photo to follow, CROQUET, spent about 3 hours on the trampoline, CROQUET, and had a marathon game of monopoly! Not bad for less than 48 hours.
Kayaks make for the ultimate stealth photography platforms. If you are careful you can glide right up to all sorts of creatures without disturbing them. What they offer in quiet approach they certainly lack in stability and it took quite a bit of skill and perseverance to get this shot of a dragonfly (Maya informed me upon her return from camp that this is actually a damselfly) without any motion blur considering I was bobbing on the water, being carried by the current, and shooting a tiny subject from a great distance in low light.
About halfway into my six-mile tour, I caught a fleeting glimpse of what I believe was a muskrat. He was in the deep shadows, which required a long shutter speed to make the image.
After dropping Maya off at camp I stopped just outside of Townsend, MA to do a little kayaking in the Nashua River. I was not on the water for ten minutes when I discovered this spider walking along the surface. First time I have ever seen one of these and I studied it for several minutes. He walked as if on dry land and rode the largest of waves lake a skilled surfer. Quite a marvel of nature. See if you can distinguish between the eight real legs and the eight reflections.
After the opening ceremony Maya meets her bunk mates and counselors. If there is an opposite to separation anxiety Maya would be the poster child for it. She adjusts so well to new situations and makes friends very easily. After unpacking her bags and making up her bed (top bunk, naturally) she was ready to give her dad a big hug goodbye and he soaked up every last bit of it.
Maya and I travelled to southern New Hampshire this afternoon where she will be spending a week at camp Wildwood on Lake Hubbard. Run by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the camp has a strong focus on understanding and appreciating the natural world. This will be her second year here and she was so anxious to arrive that she coerced me into leaving two hours earlier than necessary. We had a very nice lunch date at the Main Street Cafe in Groton and I scouted potential kayaking venues along our route to consume the extra time.
Before heading back to the ferry, Maya discovered these dancing water fountains and can’t resist a quick transit through the randomly timed blast of water. Fortunately she avoided a direct hit and was only moderately soaked. Click on the photo and see if you can find her right in the center of the action.